Problem: Michael has 16 apples for every 40 watermelons. Write the ratio of apples to watermelons as a simplified fraction.
Ratios can be written in a few different ways that mean the same thing. You can express a ratio with a colon separating the two numbers. $16:40$ You can write it out as a phrase like this. $16 \text{ to } 40$ Or, you can express a ratio as a fraction. $\dfrac{16}{40}=\dfrac{2}{5}$ Therefore, $\dfrac{2}{5}$ is the ratio of apples to watermelons written as a simplified fraction.